Tech-Savvy Teaching Focus of Teacher Showcase, Dec. 8

A middle school science teacher uses Google Earth to map numerous elements on the periodic table.

A high school history teacher employs a Flickr gallery to analyze Russian propaganda during the Cold War.

A middle school English teacher relies on blogs to stimulate student discussion about reading books.

How novice teachers are integrating technology in their work with students is the focus of a teacher technology showcase at Sonoma State University from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 8 in Schulz 3001.

The School of Education welcomes local teachers, students and community members to attend the showcase as a way to support novice teachers and engage in dialogue with them about their work.

"The Showcase will be run like a poster session at a conference, allowing students to share with attendees their unit plans, lessons, or activities that incorporate new media technologies, " says Jessica Parker, Assistant Professor in the Curriculum Studies and Secondary Education Department. Parker is the author of Teaching Tech Savvy Kids (http://teachingtechsavvykids.com/).

"The goal of the Showcase is to highlight how novice teachers are integrating technology in their work with students," she says.

"The focus is not just on the technological tools the teachers are employing but also on the content objectives as well: how are they creating a rich learning environment for students through the integration of this technology. "

The Pre-Service Teacher Technology Showcase has been made possible in part by a gift to the School of Education from Google.

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In December 2015 I took a swell trip. While my students back on campus crammed for final exams in my lecture and laboratory courses, and sweated out documenting their lengthy geology field trip reports, I got schooled, in the good sense. I went to Cuba, an island in the humid tropics where perspiration flows like cheap rum. I joined 22 other scholar-tourists from 15 campuses around the country who converged in Miami, Florida, and then made the short flight to Havana, Cuba for the week-long education and research delegation.

Sonoma State University English professor Brantley Bryant, author of Middle English modern satire "Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog," is spearheading the creation of an online open access companion to Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" that will be free for students to use as a resource for studying the classic text.

Sonoma State University student Michelle Kavata recently returned from Haiti, where she helped set up a virtual doctor's office in a rural area of the developing nation--and received college credit for doing so.

Navigating college for the first time can present several challenges for the average student. For the 148 undocumented students at Sonoma State University, those challenges are even harder says Griselda Madrigal, president of Sonoma State's DREAMers Club.

When Polaroid decided to stop making its trademark instant-developing film in 2008, the company destroyed nearly all of its factories. Sonoma State University environmental history professor Laura A. Watt has latched on to the iconic Polaroid style to express another side of her art. Her work is featured in a solo exhibition, "The Evolving Landscape of Point Reyes," at Prince Gallery in Petaluma Oct. 7-Nov. 8.

The world-class music halls at Sonoma State University will soon be filled by the sound of a student symphony orchestra. Sonoma State has hired a tenure-track music professor to direct the Sonoma State Symphony Orchestra, which performs in Weill Hall at the Green Music Center.

Alexander Kahn joined the music faculty this semester, and students are already enrolled in the university's first official symphony orchestra. Kahn holds a Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley and a Graduate Performance Diploma in orchestral conducting from the Peabody Institute at John's Hopkins University. He was most recently a tenured professor at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.

How was your summer? Well, for two Sonoma State University math students and math professor Martha Shott, it was international. They spent the summer, or six weeks of it, at least, in Thailand with the the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program.

Shott worked with eight students, including SSU math majors Travis Hayes and Ericka Chavez, in a faculty mentor capacity while students studied with faculty at Chiang Mai University, situated in Northern Thailand in Chiang Mai, a city of 150,000.

Sonoma State biology professor Nathan Rank visits Bishop so often, "it's almost like a second home," he says, speaking on a spotty cell phone connection from the eastern California mountain town of Bishop. He's been spending summers surrounded by breathtaking scenery of the Sierra Nevada since 1984 studying the montane leaf beetle, and will continue to do so for the next three years thanks to a $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.

"We are looking at how genetic differentiations within populations might help survive a really wet or dry year." He adds, "Since this year is extremely dry year, we are making sure to document the populations very carefully."

For students across the nation, graduating from high school is a celebratory achievement. This task is made much more difficult for children of migrant farm workers and low-income families with no knowledge in guiding their kids to obtain higher education. To counteract the disadvantages facing migrant students, Sonoma State University has created a program modeled after the California Mini-Corps program called the Migrant Education Advisor Program (MEAP).

"My mom passed away a week before my freshman year of high school, and I knew that education would be my fallback," says Chris Villedo, a freshman sociology major at Sonoma State University. "So the next four years I really focused on my education." He says Seawolf Scholars, a foster youth assistance program started last semester, has already helped guide him through financial aid, register for classes and navigate complex paperwork and registration requirements. "Having programs like this on campus helps students be more confident about what they want to do in college," says Villedo.

May is National Foster Care Month, and Sonoma State University's new Seawolf Scholars program is helping former foster youth navigate the new and turbulent world of college life.

More than four decades may have passed since man has set foot on the moon, but last year Sonoma State University equipment technician Steve Anderson shot a giant laser at it.

Working in conjunction with a local Sonoma County laser light show studio, Anderson created a 100-Watt laser projector, over 20,000 times more powerful than a typical handheld laser. Anderson demonstrated the laser as part of a visual display the night before the launch of the Orion Spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on December 5, and participated in the Holidays in Space events later that month.

The Apple Watch is the latest gadget in the wearable technology game, but it's not the first, or certainly the last, wireless communication device that will live on our bodies. Sonoma State University engineering science professor Haider Khaleel says the revenue of the wearable technology field is estimated to be $28 billion over the next five years.

"I have been amazed by these wearable electronics since they emerged about 14 years ago," says Khaleel, who specializes in wearable technology and published a textbook on the subject last year.

Sonoma State University senior Alex Bretow was working on the set of a new Steve Jobs biography film when he got the email on March 16: "Congratulations, you've been officially accepted into the Cannes CMF program!" Says Bretow, "I literally ran outside and was jumping up and down."

When the producer/director called his filmmaking partner and fellow SSU student, writer/producer Mary-Madison Baldo, she had a similar reaction "I literally screamed," she says. "I was home for spring break, so I tripped up the stairs yelling, 'Mom!' She came out of her bedroom in a panic because she thought that I had hurt myself or something."

Both are appropriate reactions to finding out you've had not one, but two films selected for the most prestigious film festival in the world this May.

Women represent 24 percent of the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workforce in the United States, a figure that's risen only 3 percent since 1993 according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. But a new club at Sonoma State University is working to close the gender gap.

"We already have an electrical engineering club, which is geared toward the boys," says Alyssa Afa'ese, electrical engineering major and president of SSU's new Society For Women Engineers club. "Women are underrepresented in our major, so we wanted to start and organization where women can work together."

The club began in fall 2014 and is working to inspire young women at Sonoma State to pursue their interest in engineering science. Afa'ese believes many women are apprehensive about joining the engineering department because of its low percentage of female students.

At 70, Sonoma State University graduate biology student Nicole Karres doesn't need another career. But in 1996 her natural curiosity got the best of her, and after careers in the medical corps in the Army and as a graphic designer at a fortune 500 company, she started what would be a 20-year journey to both Bachelor's and Master's degrees in a field of study that was brand new to her.

Particularly grateful are the jarred fish, amphibian and reptile specimens she has taken to cleaning and re-preserving for future researchers like herself.

Twelve hearty souls from the SSU geology department took a six-day field trip in early September to the Canadian Rockies in British Columbia and Alberta to explore the world-renown Burgess Shale, a UNESCO world heritage site widely lauded as the most important fossil locality in the world.

This field trip ran in conjunction with the upper level Geology elective course, GEL321: Burgess Shale Paleontology, a class taught since 2003 by paleontologist Matt James.

The fossils of Burgess Shale were discovered in 1909 during construction of the Trans-Canadian Railway. These 505-million-year-old fossils, remnants of creatures that once lived in a shallow sea, are the best record of the period of time after the appearance of modern hard-shelled multicellular animals and have proved pivotal to the study of paleontology. They are located in the majestic Canadian Rockies on the eastern border of British Columbia, surrounded by stunningly beautiful mountains shaped by numerous glaciers--in short, a geologist's heaven!

Class selection and academic resources are changing for first and second year students at Sonoma State University with the introduction of the voluntary Sophomore Year Experience Program (SYE).

This program, designed to help freshman transition to their sophomore year and prepare for the remainder of their college careers, began last year as a pilot program and is now expanding further among the university this year.

The Dean of the School of Business, his son, and courageous SSU sophomore Sophie Edwards know the battle against blood cancer well. SSU mounts a team for the Light the Night Walk on Oct. 11 as a fundraising event for cancer research and patient services.

When Benji Silver was three months old, he was diagnosed with leukemia, a type of blood cancer. At that point in his life, at such a young age, he was given a 30 percent chance of life. After three years of treatment and constant hospital visits, Benji survived leukemia.
He is now healthy and happy 11 years later at age 14.

His father, Dean of Sonoma State University's School of Business and Economics William Silver, considers his son a "conquerer" for more reasons than one, including his appreciation for life and his strength to accomplish the seemingly impossible.

Queer history is about to see the light of day in California's K-12 schools.

If SSU Women's and Gender Studies Chair Don Romesburg has his way, the story won't just include history-making heroes.

Professor Romesburg has worked vigorously with other lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) scholars to develop a new framework that weaves analysis of gender and sexuality as social and political forces throughout time.

Since May 2013, Romesburg has steered a rigorous effort to recommend revisions of the California K-12 History - Social Science Framework.

On Tuesday, Sept. 16, he and two co-editors released the groundbreaking report: Making the Framework FAIR: California History-Social Science Framework Proposed LGBT Revisions Related to the FAIR Education Act.

"Students can only truly understand families, communities, social practices, and politics, by understanding how they shaped and were shaped by same-sex relations and gender diversity--and how this changed over time," he says.

The entrance to the Children's School on the SSU campus is the first step to understanding the power of the environment as teacher.

Some children harvest raspberries as others care for chickens that inhabit the outdoor area that surrounds the school. Pears and other fruits growing in the garden are ready to be plucked soon.Sponsored by the Associated Students, the Children's School offers a one-of-a-kind learning experience for children ages one to five years old, for low income families, and for SSU students and faculty

With another successful year in the books for SSU student-athletes, the Dept. of Intercollegiate Athletics reports that 62 Seawolves earned All-Academic honors by their respective conferences for the 2013-14 school year.
In addition, 12 other student-athletes not eligible for conference awards and/or compete on a team not affiliated with a conference earned Academic Distinction for having a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or higher. The overall total of 74 Seawolves earning academic honors is an increase from last year's tally of 64.

Student research, scholarship and creative activity capitalize on the strength of the faculty and add currency to students' educational experience, says Provost Andrew Rogerson. Aiming to strengthen the major opportunities that undergraduate students at SSU have for compelling research, Rogerson funded 29 grants for faculty-student teams this semester.

Looking for an exciting way to explore Sonoma County history? Then the University Library's Special Collections is the place to start. With thousands of unique primary materials, there are treasures on every aspect of North Bay history. With many items available online, you can start exploring from home.

The best place to start is with the collection materials from Sonoma County's famed historian Gaye LeBaron. The Gaye LeBaron Collection includes a truly eclectic range of items from letters to clippings to photographs, and more, organized into over 800 topics, many of which can be viewed online.

Kinesiology professor Lauren Morimoto has been named Director of Diversity and Inclusive Excellence at SSU. She applied for the position to reframe conversations about diversity - rather than something SSU "has" to do, as something SSU wants to do. Diversity promotes academic excellence and positive learning experiences for students in- and out- of underrepresented groups, she says.

Since 2000, Phillips has served as SSU's Associate Director of Student Development, prior to her current position she was a Residential Life Coordinator of Zinfandel Village from 1997 until taking her most current position.

As an Associate Director of Student Development she is responsible for supervising the Residential Life Coordinators who manage the continuing-student villages, which include Beaujolais, Tuscany, and Sauvignon East.

If 300 Northern California math teachers were supported by the North Bay Mathematics Project (NBMP) in summer 2013, how many K-12 students have benefitted from the Project's work over the past 10 years?

Tucked away in the back of the Facilities Department is the campus lock shop and the man who holds the keys to the kingdom that is Sonoma State--Mark Utarid.

Judging by the decorated workspace it is easy to see that Mark is definitely a fan of both cars and basketball. Cards of former players are neatly adhered to his desk and images of speeding cars fill the majority of empty wall space.

Although Mark has made this space his own, work is also done around the clock. Mark is in and out, sometimes making 10 to 15 service calls a day as a locksmith for Sonoma State's Facilities/Lock Shop Department. At times he has made up to 50 service calls in a single day.

In 1964, acclaimed author Samuel Beckett set out on one of the strangest ventures in cinematic history: his embattled collaboration with silent era genius Buster Keaton on the production of a short avant-garde film entitled, simply, "Film." Beckett was nearing the peak of his fame, which would culminate in his receiving a Nobel Prize five years later. Keaton, in his waning years, never lived to see Beckett's canonization. Now, the Sonoma Film Institute (SFI) at Sonoma State University opens its 2016 fall season with the North Bay premiere of "Notfilm," a new documentary on the making of Beckett's only film, on Aug. 26 at 7 p.m. in Warren Auditorium.

The second annual Jewish Music Series at Sonoma State University features artists hailing from New York City to the Bay Area, including trumpeter Frank London (cofounder of the Klezmatics) and virtuoso clarinetist Ben Goldberg with his Invisible Guy trio. All six concerts are free, taking place on Thursday evenings in Schroeder Hall at the University's Green Music Center.

The 2016-17 Sonoma State University Theatre Arts and Dance season includes new, contemporary dances and short plays created and performed by students, critically acclaimed plays and a joint production of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" with the Music Department, directed by Lynne Morrow and Amanda McTigue.

The Sonoma State University Art Gallery presents the 2016 BFA exhibition, featuring work from students graduating this year with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. The exhibition runs April 28 through May 21 with a free reception held at the University Art Gallery on Thursday, April 28, 5-7 p.m.

How can we harness the cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and spiritual dimensions of systems thinking to catalyze social change? Author David Peter Stroh brings his extensive experience as an organizational and community consultant to answer these questions in a talk at Sonoma State University on May 2, 7-9 p.m. in Darwin Hall, room 107.

Earth Day is April 22, and a student group at Sonoma State University is encouraging the campus community to start the celebration one day early with events scheduled throughout the day on Thursday, April 21.

Loss of self commonly occurs among people who have suffered a devastating illness or injury. Many of them subsequently struggle to regain a valued self, but how do they do it? Sonoma State Sociology Professor Kathy Charmaz discusses this and other questions in a powerful lecture, "Losing and Regaining a Valued Self," on Tuesday, April 26 at noon in the Student Center Ballroom.

Sonoma State University welcomes activist and author Laurence Shoup in the Student Center Ballroom on Monday, April 11 at 7 p.m. to discuss his new book, "Wall Street's Think Tank: The Council on Foreign Relations and the Empire of Neoliberal Geopolitics, 1979-2014."

April is Disability Awareness Month, and Sonoma State University is offering several events sponsored by Disability Services for Students in collaboration with other departments. All events are free and open to all faculty, staff and students.

They were brought here as children by families in search of a better life, but were deported or returned voluntarily back to Mexico as adults. Upon returning, the 26 subjects of the 2014 book "Los Otros Dreamers" found themselves outsiders in their "native" country, many longing to return to the English-speaking land they grew up calling home. On Monday, April 4, DREAMers Club de Sonoma State University hosts a panel discussion with members of that group of 26 in the Student Center ballroom at 4 p.m.

Sonoma State University hosts its second annual Social Justice Week this week more than 30 hours of lectures, panels, films and activities on topics ranging from the Black Lives Matter movement to the CIA. Keynote speakers include author David Talbot, hip-hop historian and radio host DaveyD, and Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin.

Sonoma State University physics and astronomy professor Lynn Cominsky reports on the recent observations of gravitational waves in the "What Physicists Do" lecture on March 21 at Sonoma State. Cominsky was part of the team that announced the discovery earlier this year.

Carol Rittner, the Marsha Raticoff professor of Holocaust Studies at Stockton University in New Jersey, speaks on the topic of gender and genocide on Tuesday, March 22 as Sonoma State University's Holocaust and Genocide Lecture Series honors Women's History Month.

Since summer 2015, historians, sociologists, and media outlets have stated time and again that the current migrant crisis in Europe is the greatest since the end of World War II, pitting European nations against one another. Sonoma State University presents a talk about the European migrant crisis by UC Santa Barbara professor Silvia Bermúdez on Thursday, March 24, 2:15 p.m. in Schulz 3001.

Saxophonist and composer Michael Blake and his quartet perform at Sonoma State University on Wednesday, March 9 as part of their West Coast Tour, performing on Jazz Forum at 1 p.m. in GMC 1029 and in concert at 7:30 p.m. in Weill Hall in the Green Music Center.

The creators of the wildly successful "Serial" podcast are taking a live audience behind the scenes of their award-winning, innovative journalism on March 8 at 7:30 p.m. in Weill Hall at Sonoma State University's Green Music Center.

Certain myths and stories contain such nourishment that they continue to unfold throughout our whole lives. International mythologist Dr. Martin Shaw brings stories and poems he believes have such vitality and something direct to say to us in the early 21st century in his guest lecture at Sonoma State University Saturday, March 5 at 10 a.m. in Warren Auditorium in Ives Hall. Admission is free, with donations accepted, and parking is $5-$8 on campus.

The University Art Gallery at Sonoma State University is hosting "YES! Glue: A Half-Century of Collage by Bruce and Jean Conner" Feb. 18 through March 13, with a free opening reception Thursday, Feb. 18, 5-7 p.m. Jean Conner presents a free walkthrough of the exhibition Thursday, March 3 at noon.

Sonoma State University trumpet instructor Dave Len Scott dons his most comfortable shoes when he plays John Coltrane's iconic "Giant Steps" with pianist Ken Cook in Schroeder Hall at Sonoma State's Green Music Center Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m. Scott's performance is part of the university's faculty recital series, which runs Feb. 21 through April 3.

Academy Award winning actress Mira Sorvino, a United Nations and Amnesty International ambassador in the fight against human trafficking, is the keynote speaker in this year's H. Andrea Neves and Barton Evans Social Justice Lecture Series at Sonoma State University. She speaks Feb. 23 at 7:30 p.m. in Weill Hall at the Green Music Center.

One Great City, featuring two protégés of Sergio Assad and hailed as rising stars of the San Francisco chamber music scene, perform a duo classical guitar recital at Sonoma State University Feb. 5 at 7:30 p.m. in Schroeder Hall at the Green Music Center.

The Jean and Charles Schulz Information Center's 15th Anniversary continues with "Peanuts at Work," a panel discussion featuring cartoonists and archivists from the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa on Feb. 2 at 4 p.m. in the Special Collections Department at the Sonoma State University Library.

The spring 2016 Sonoma State University Jazz Forum features saxophonist Michael Blake, Cuban bandleader Alberto Faya, drummer Billy Hart and many others. The Jazz Forum is a unique performance/master class designed to expose jazz majors and guests to a wide variety of jazz styles. Guest musicians perform their music with commentary in a relaxed atmosphere. Performances are on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. in GMC 1029 and free of charge unless otherwise noted. Parking is $5-$8 on campus. See http://www.sonoma.edu/music/concert_calendar/jazzforums_s16.html for more information.

Sonoma State University Physics Professor Jeremy Qualls has received the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce Excellence in Education Award. He was honored along with a handful of educators in categories from pre-school to four-year college at the Chamber's Education and Business Partnership Breakfast this week.

A school record 93 Sonoma State University student-athletes have earned All-Academic honors from their respective conferences for the 2015-16 academic year. And for the second consecutive year, Sonoma State student-athletes set a new department GPA record, topping last year's record of 3.037 with a combined GPA of 3.097 in 2015-16.

On May 17, the Santa Rosa City Council proclaimed May as Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and recognized the Filipino American Association of Sonoma State University (FAASSU) for its spirit of inclusion and contributions to the community.

A group of Sonoma State University students were recognized for their accomplishments after participating in a panel at the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS) conference in Denver this April.

It was a longshot. "Like a No. 16-seed reaching the Final Four," says proud professor Kristen Daley. But Sonoma State University senior Hannah Ingwerson defied the odds this year to make it to the big dance -- literally. This summer, her dance piece, "For Example," will be performed at the American College Dance Association (ACDA) National Conference at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.

Sonoma State University Professors Karin Enstam Jaffe and Patrick Jackson are the recipients of the 2015-2016 President's Excellence in Scholarship award. The award honors faculty for their outstanding scholarship, commitment to student participation in research, and their creative approaches for making their scholarship available beyond the academic community. It recognizes the important connection between faculty professional development and enriched learning environments for students.

Sonoma State University faculty emerita Barbara McCaffrey was invited by the Ambassador of the Republic of Rwanda to speak at the Commemoration of the 22nd Anniversary of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi hosted by the Rwandan Embassy in Washington, D.C. on April 7.

Amid the competition and international perspectives of students from around the world, Sonoma State University's Model United Nations delegation earned its 11th and 12th awards in the past six years at the National Model U.N. Conference in New York City last week. I was proud to be a student in the group that took home awards for Outstanding Delegate and Honorable Mention Delegation.

Sonoma State University Senior Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Bill Fusco has been selected as one of 28 athletics directors in the nation to earn the 2015-16 Under Armour Athletics Director of the Year award.

Sonoma State University physics and astronomy professor Lynn Cominsky has received the $20,000 Wang Family Excellence Award for her extraordinary commitment to student achievement and exemplary contributions in her fields.

Planning for the Girls on the Run 5k charity event resulted in $2k for Sonoma State Human Resources Specialist Erin Rock.

Rock, an alumna of SSU's Masters in Business Administration program ('15) received the "Best Student-Authored Case Award" and a $2,000 prize at the North American Case Research Association (NACRA) conference in Orlando, Florida earlier this month. Her case study and instructor's manual, Girls on the Run Sonoma County: Volunteers, True Strategic Assets, focuses on strategies to support Girls on the Run Sonoma County, a non-profit organization that helps girls develop life skills through conversation-based lessons and running games.

Sonoma State University president Dr. Ruben Armiñana was honored Friday with the North Bay Leadership Council's Murray Legacy Leadership Award, prompting the crowd of hundreds to erupt with applause in standing ovation at the annual award luncheon in Santa Rosa.

Sonoma State University staff member Susan Wandling was recognized last month as an American Graduate Champion by KRCB public broadcasting for her work with schools to lower the high school dropout rate in Sonoma County.

Sonoma State University wine business professor Liz Thach, MW, is this year's recipient of the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce Excellence in Education award.

"It's a tremendous honor to be recognized by peers, colleagues, and associates," said Thach. "I spent years as an executive at Fortune 500 companies and there's no greater validation than doing right by my students. They put forward a high level of effort and excellence each day, and I share this award with them."

Sonoma State University biology master's student Michelle Ferraro took home second place (and a $250 prize) in the graduate division for biological sciences at the 29th annual CSU Student Research Competition, held May 1-2 at CSU San Bernardino, for her presentation titled "Evaluating Optimal Foraging Theory in a Free-Roaming Marine Predator."

The competition featured over 250 participants from all 23 CSU campuses. Undergraduate and graduate students competed in separate divisions by discipline. Ferraro is mentored by biology professor Dan Crocker.

Sonoma State University professors Lynn Cominsky and Suzanne Rivoire have earned the university's Excellence in Scholarship awards for their dedication to academic excellence.

Provost Andrew Rogerson presented the awards at Sonoma State's University Research Symposium on April 15. "When students collaborate with faculty on research, they learn first-hand how experts solve practical problems. Their teachers become role models, mentors and guides for continuous lifelong learning," he said. "This is the classic teacher-scholar model that we value so highly at Sonoma State. Both Lynn Cominsky and Suzanne Rivoire exemplify this ideal and are well deserving of recognition."

The Sonoma County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has selected Sonoma State University senior Sandy Espino-Valenciano to receive the Mario Savio Student Activist Award.

Espino-Valenciano, a psychology major at Sonoma State, is a volunteer and consultant with the North Bay Immigrant Youth Union where she has advocated for the implementation of the Trust Act and Assembly Bill 60, which requires driver's licenses to be issued to undocumented individuals in California. She has also led community forums as resources for immigrants applying for driver's licenses.

A group of 24 Sonoma State University students earned a third place delegation award at the National Model United Nations Conference last week in New York City.

The students, led by political science professor Cynthia Boaz, participated in the program with more than 4,000 students from 400 universities across the globe. This year, Sonoma State represented Nigeria, which presented a variety of difficulties because of the nation's controversial politics and ongoing national issues. The team handled it well, earning Sonoma State's 10th award in the past five years.

After more than 20 years of research, Sonoma State University geology professor David Bero has published detailed maps of Ring Mountain and the Tiburon Peninsula. He presented these new maps as the featured speaker of the SSU Geology Club's lecture series on February 19.

Geologists around the world are known for their love of the outdoors, and Bero, who has been lecturing at Sonoma State for the past eight years, is no exception. He has spent nearly every weekend during the past 20 years hiking the trails and enjoying the sweeping vistas of his native Marin County. But unlike day hikers gazing at the panoramic ocean views, Bero's focus is on the rocks beneath him.

Sonoma State University wine business professor Dr. Liz Thach has earned her third Gourmand World Cookbooks award since 2007.

"Call of the Vine: Exploring 10 famous vineyards of Napa and Sonoma" took the title for the Women and Wine Book category in the United States and will via for the title of best in the world at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in Yantai, China in June.

"This award feels different than the others," says Thach."It's not dry business text, it's a story," she says, admitting that this award came as a surprise. "This book is more personal. I put a lot of heart and soul into it."

Four undergraduate SSU students were honored at a California State University biotechnology symposium in Santa Clara this week for their work on a new device to help those suffering with Parkinson's Disease.

The team presented a prototype for what they call "PD Analytics," a low-cost device that can quantify tremors associated with Parkinson's Disease. The project aims to monitor and record the tremors of an individual Parkinson's Disease sufferer to allow for adjustment of medication accordingly in real time. To do this, they've constructed a glove capable of measuring intensity and frequency of tremors--the idea being that it can be emailed to a doctor right away. Though other universities are working on similar projects, what sets SSU's apart is its simplicity and low cost.

This follows the 2013 honor of being included in W.W. Norton's Postmodern American Poetry Anthology (2nd edition) that celebrated the works of renowned poets Allen Ginsberg, Robert Creeley, Denise Levertov, Amira Baraka, Charles Olson, and Barbara Guest.

Professor of Physics and Astronomy Dr. Lynn Cominsky has been awarded the Aerospace Awareness Award by Women in Aerospace (WIA).

She is one of six women in the nation selected for their devotion to the advancement of women in aerospace and for their significant contributions to the field.

Cominsky was nominated by Dr. Hashima Hasan of the NASA headquarters and was chosen for her "excellent leadership and sustained dedication to aerospace education and for her tenacious advocacy for girls and young women in aerospace."

Cominsky will be honored along with other award recipients in Arlington, VA at the Ritz Carton Pentagon City Hotel at a reception dinner and ceremony on Oct. 29.

The Psychology department at SSU has earned two community recognition awards for its Collaborative Autism Training Support Program (CATS) which works with local families whose children are diagnosed with autism.

On Oct. 27, CATS will receive one of fifteen merit awards given by the City of Santa Rosa at a 7 p.m. ceremony in the city council chambers.

This summer, the United Cerebral Palsy Association and the Cypress School of Autism and Behavioral Services presented their own honors to the program because of the efforts of countless SSU students and some faculty members dedicated to assisting these children and their families.

The CATS program, developed in 2005 by psychology professor Lorna Catford, blends the academics and classroom work that psychology students complete at SSU with the hands-on training and service-learning experience those students need in future career settings.